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Morrison urged to visit Tamil region

Lisa Martin

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has been challenged to ditch his Sri Lankan political minders and visit the country's war-torn north to hear first hand about ongoing human rights abuses.

Mr Morrison's trip to Colombo this week coincides with ongoing federal government silence over the fate of Tamil asylum seekers after they were reportedly intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat.

The government is refusing to confirm reports 203 Tamils have been handed over to Sri Lankan authorities at sea.

Mr Morrison will attend a ceremony to mark the handing over of two former Australian Customs bay class patrol boats that have been given the Rajapaksa regime to help combat people-smuggling operations.

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It has been more than a week since an asylum-seeker boat originating from India and carrying 153 Tamils, and a second boat with 50 people on board from Indonesia, sailed towards Christmas Island.

The United Nations refugee agency has expressed profound concern about alleged processing shortcuts on their claims for refugee status.

Human rights groups have warned the Tamils could face torture, rape and long-term detention if they are returned to Sri Lanka.

Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations spokesman Siva Sivakumar urged Mr Morrison to take a leaf out of Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron's book and visit Jaffna.

Mr Cameron last year visited the region hardest hit during Sri Lanka's 37-year civil war to hear first hand about the plight of displaced people and ongoing abuses.

"We would him encourage him to [go to Jaffna]... to meet the Tamil leaders, the church leaders, the Tamil representatives," Mr Sivakumar told AAP.

If Mr Morrison sticks to the itinerary of army commanders, he said, he'll only be shown what the Sri Lankan government wants him to see.

"Show some mercy," Mr Sivakumar said.

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles accused Mr Morrison of trying to "slink out of the country".

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne urged the minister to explain why he was sending tortured people, some of whom had been "hung by their thumbs," back to their persecutors.

The Greens will put up a motion in the new Senate this week demanding an explanation.

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has said on Twitter that Tamil asylum seekers being handed back to Sri Lanka at sea was redolent of handing over Jews to the Nazis in the 1930s.

Cabinet minister Eric Abetz rejected that comparison.

He declined to comment on what he called an "operational matter", but said border protection authorities would treat the asylum seekers according to Australia's international obligations.

He rejected accusations the government had "disappeared" the Tamils.

"In due course these matters will be revealed, but it makes absolute sense that you do not give a blow-by-blow description in the middle of an operational matter," Senator Abetz told ABC TV on Sunday.

A spokesman for Mr Morrison pointed out that the minister and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made an independent visit to Jaffna, organised by the Tamil National Alliance, while in opposition in February 2013.

At the time, Mr Morrison acknowledged that it was illegal under Sri Lankan law to leave the country without following proper processes and those who were returned, by either voluntary or forced means, faced interviews.

He said people were then moved back into the country's resettlement program.

Jobs and land issues were the main complaints the Tamils raised and Mr Morrison noted that the military were building houses for civilians.

After the visit, the pair were adamant the coalition's tough policy position was correct.

They admitted there was a long way to go on Sri Lanka's path to reconciliation but were heartened by the steps taken so far.